Today’s widely-reported message on arsenic levels in rice misses the point. The issue is not the short-term risks of rice consumption. The concern is the long-term effects from exposure to arsenic in rice. As Consumer Reports has said in the past, consumers should not ignore the potential risks from consuming rice and rice products over a long period of time…Consumers are not well-served if they do not have the full story. The concerns about long-term effects are significant and warrant the FDA’s decision to investigate further.

The FDA says it plans further investigations. In the meantime, it says you should:

Eat a well-balanced diet.

Vary your grains.

Consider diversifying infant foods

This is always good advice.

But Consumers Union is more specific. It suggests you worry a little and observe these limits:

At the moment, this is the best information available. FDA: get to work!

2-3 billion people now have rice 2-3 times a day and hundreds and hundreds of millions of people have been subsisting on rice for several thousands of years. If there were long term effects, then there would be higher numbers of whatever among those populations that have used rice the longest. Think Consumer Reports is over-reacting.

No limits on drinking water or other foods, though? Maybe the recommendations for rice consumption are overblown. The specific recommendations seem like they should have more justification to be so strict.

excentric

I wonder about this, too. There was a program about toothpaste where they interviewed a dentist who said that the amount of flouride in a pea-size blob of toothpaste is not enough to harm a child if they swallow it. But a pea-sized blob several times a week or more was not addressed. Cumulative harm seems to be ignored in a lot of the ‘science’ supposedly proving the lack of harm if our food and products.

excentric

I think there hasn’t been arsenic in rice for thousands of years. It is a recent development caused by fertilizers and run-off. Your argument is invalid.

Ned Hamson

Think or know. Arsenic is found in nature. Used to be commonly found in well water and had nothing to do with fertilizers or run off. But I’ll check so we will both know.

Ned Hamson

Arsenic in Ground Water of the United States: Occurrence and Geochemistry: /http://www.foodpolitics.com/2013/09/arsenic-in-rice-another-food-issue-to-worry-about/#comment-1047080584

For US, we are both right: natural sources main source in some areas, human intervention bug cause in a number of areas. Have to assume story would be pretty much the same where similar geographies occur. Thanks,

George

I believe the higher level of arsenic in some US soils is a legacy of its use on cotton crops in the days of King Cotton.
Arsenic is both a herbicide and insecticide.

Ned Hamson

Could well be

http://www.nutritionprescription.biz/ Michele Jacobson

According to my research, the simple act of rinsing your rice prior to cooking – not once or twice, but three or four times – can reduce the arsenic content up to 30%! Americans have been trained NOT to do this because companies have long been spraying on vitamins (aka “enriched” rice), and rinsing rice would wash these vitamins down the drain.
Buy brown rice, with the vitamins and minerals intact, and rinse prior to cooking to reduce the arsenic content.

We did a lot of damage to ourselves and the environment before we understood the dangers, but now that we do, we keep on doing the damage anyway. It’s a puzzlement.

Ned Hamson

We continue to think we are above or not part of nature and that technology will always “save” us. Profit for profits’ sake does not help any either.

excentric

I agree. I think greed is in the process of being our downfall. Nothing matters but the bottom line. Quality, integrity…they’ve become irrelevant. Those who have feel no obligation towards those who don’t, and choose to exploit those who do the actual work. Sad commentary on our times.

Ned Hamson

Too many believe they can buy their way out of any calamity their actions might cause or contribute to – either that or they simply split their mind and the Monsanto GMO dabbler does not think about potential damage s/he might do to world crops.

excentric

S/he can only see dollar signs, not devastation. I say this way too often, but god, my species is stupid. Seriously.

This is great Michele! Also, did you know that boiling rice can remove even more of the arsenic content?

http://www.nutritionprescription.biz/ Michele Jacobson

Thank you, Jared. I haven’t heard that about the boiling. Conventional wisdom tells me what’s in the water would get absorbed back into the rice. Thoughts anyone?

http://www.creationbasedhealth.com/ Jared White

Hi Michelle, there are actually a couple of preliminary studies that boiling in ample water reduces arsenic content (which I link to in my post: http://creationbasedhealth.com/how-to-boil-rice or you can search for the study entitled “Cooking rice in a high water to rice ratio reduces inorganic arsenic content.” As far as how it works, my guess is that heat helps release the arsenic, while ample water gives it space to dissolve into. By contrast, cooking with a rice cooker/evaporative method even more arsenic is concentrated into the rice because the cooking water evaporates leaving even more arsenic behind.

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